Good on Charlie. He is a great bench player for the AB’s but nothing more. He’s our version of Skelton…huge, average Test scrummager, poor lineout jumper and only good for 40 minutes at most.

Years ago, before Smith first got picked for he AB’s I was of the opinion that TJP would be the long-term future AB half-back. While, for the most part, Smith has performed brilliantly since being selected he has several glaring weaknesses that have only recently been exploited by the opposition. Smith has a pass that is other-worldly, something that has assisted the AB’s gameplan. His pass is simply the best I have ever seen.

However, I think opposition teams will target Smith now as his weaknesses have become apparent.

He is a very weak defender, he gets brushed aside often and at other times the opposition make huge gains running through his channel even if he completes the tackle.

He is hot-headed and can be easily put off his game. Running down his channel, niggling him around the breakdown and he starts to make elementary mistakes.

He will at times, in the heat of battle, make a braindead decision that leaves you going ‘WTF?’ Quick taps, chip kicks 15m from the opposition goalline etc

While a strong support runner, he lacks physical presence to run effectively and can be tossed aside one-handedly by most forwards.

So while TJP cannot match Smith’s wonderful pass, he has a much better allround game. He is a much better runner with the ball, much better defender and doesnt get as flustered as Smith sometimes gets. Plus he doesn’t earn the refs ire for his Phipps-like chirping of the refs. I believe the British Lions will put severe heat on Smith and the breakdown next year, and I’m not sure he is up to it. TJP is IMHO, a better player for those situations, Smith is better as a finisher when players are tired.

After the 1987 All Black’s won the inaugural RWC they had a period of dominance like this…it wasn’t if they would win..it was by how much…they scored 30-50 points every game. Back then the AB’s were much much fitter than the rest of the world and their skill level was far far higher. Its exactly the same now.

Just one example of the skill level difference is the 21 yr old centre ALB. His offloading is other-worldly. Check his offload to Naholo way back at the AB 22 in the leadup to the AB’s first try, and his offload to Barrett for Ben Smith’s try. This kid is something special, I knew he had some talent but he has taken it to a completely new level and thrived at the highest level. What a find, what a player.

The Wallabies missed 65-67 tackles in their two tests against the AB’s, the Bok’s missed 33 tackles tonight, let me state that again…the Bok’s missed THIRTY THREE tackles…in one game…against their fiercest rivals. This All Black team is ripping teams apart from set piece, phase play and broken play.

That’s a very good win tonight but the opposition were, frankly, awful. Their tactics just played into the AB’s hands perfectly. The AB’s are playing very very well at the moment, but that Bok team isn’t very good and isn’t well coached.

It is unbelievable how many posts you have made on this topic. Says it all, really

I didn’t agree with Henry’s comments. I saw the 1972 Wallaby’s, that team was embarrassingly awful. I remember being disappointing that the All Blacks didn’t put 50 points on them even with 3 point tries. There were lots of face-palm moments in the 3 test series with the AB’s. Players running into each other, tripping over each other, quadruple knockons..really really bad stuff. And the ’72 All Blacks weren’t that great.

The current Wallaby team would beat that team by 30 points, all things being equal. If the All Blacks played as they did in Sydney they would beat that ’72 Wallaby side by at least 80 points.

If you are addressing me, then realize that I am a Kiwi and an All Black supporter.

I wish Sir Graham Henry would shut up. Hes had his time in the sun.

Sure, you could make an argument that this was the worst Wallaby team for a while based on the TWO tests against the All Blacks, but they are coming back to speed very quickly and there was a lot to like against the Pumas.

It is quite apparent that Genia-Cooper are just light years ahead of Phipps-Foley you have to wonder why the latter was persevered with for so long.

I really don’t know if Cheika is the right coach going forward (there would be a small matter of who to replace him) but I do know he shouldn’t be selecting the team. His selections are mystifying at times, and at others just plain wrong.

Nor do I think Nathan Grey is an adequate defensive coach. Don’t get me wrong, the Wallaby’s defended well last night but the Pumas were a disorganized rabble in attack for much of the game and their passing skills were atrocious.

The Wallabys this year haven’t been at their best, they have been hampered by injury, woeful defense and particularly poor selection. But there are signs they are on their way up again, and that’s a very good thing.

Pumas have been very inaccurate despite having all the ball. Wallabies being very cynical, 11 penalties conceded and its not even half time.

A convincing win for the All Blacks…but I am sad…our greatest foe, reduced to this…

Hmm, no..unfortunately it wasn’t.

I concur with all this. Funny to see commentators in general still saying things like giant Bok pack, huge Puma pack. The AB and Wallaby packs both outweigh the current Bok and Puma packs.

Despite not having watched any Springbok rugby this year I thought some of the SA supporters on this site were being maybe a little negative and exaggerating things a little.

Then I saw the game last night. Wow, they are baaaad.

Many of this squad have not played the AB’s before. Unless the AB’s have a really bad night, the Springboks are going to get hammered. Based on last nights performance they won’t be able to live with the pace and accuracy the AB’s will bring.

Bryan Habana has been a world class player but he’s at the very tailend of his career. Francois Louw and the Beast are good players and Eben Etzebeth is developing into a world class player but hes the only one in the current Springbok pack I would put in that category. One word to describe the backline from last nights game…Yuk.

There’s half a dozen players in the match-day squad I have barely heard of…for good reason. And the tactics…what tactics?

When Pocock threw that stupid pass into touch by his goaline near the end, the Boks had a real opportunity to snatch the game. They never looked like doing so and this isn’t a very good Wallaby team.

I have been watching rugby for a long time, but never before has coaching/selection hampered these two teams so badly.

He’s been put off his game a few times in the past by teams putting a lot of pressure at the breakdown. But last night was the first time a team has tried to treat him as a door mat. Hard to play well when you are continually picking yourself off the ground after being run over.

Serious question, when was the last time Jerome Kaino had an average game? His form has been sensational every game since the RWC knockout stage.

3-4 years ago I thought TJP would be a better AB halfback than Smith. Aaron Smith has the best pass I have ever seen but he is slightly built and can be bullied off his game. Strangely, this doesn’t happen as often as I thought it would.

I thought the Puma’s played it brilliantly, they ran huge forwards over the top of Smith time and time again and harassed him at the ruck.

TJP is much stronger than Smith and a great defender, hence the change. If TJP can ever get the confidence to use his running game like before he had his broken ankle, then I wouldn’t mind seeing TJP start a few tests against the bigger packs of the world with Smith being the finisher.

Congrats Wallaby’s, a win is a win. QC looked very good I thought, and Genia too. Lineout was much improved and they more than held their own in the scrums. Foley is not a 12 but the Bok’s couldn’t organize themselves to exploit that at all.

Apart from the first 15 mins everything the Boks did was ‘messy’. Boks will lift next week against the AB’s but they will have to otherwise they will get steamrolled. Their ruck ball was appallingly slow even when they won it cleanly the ball was sitting at the back for long seconds before it was shifted.

Wallaby’s appeared to have a game-plan, Bok’s did not and their kicking was mostly awful, and their backplay was laboured.

Should never write the Bok’s off, but cannot really see this side testing the AB’s. The Bok pack is lighter than both the Wallaby’s and the AB’s…so any comments about a giant Sprinkbok pack is just wrong. They can’t impose themselves physically like they did 20 years ago when they were huge in comparison to the opposition and they haven’t got the skill set to do anything different.

Mick Byrne isn’t a Head Coach and Brad Thorn isn’t a coach at all. Haven’t you learnt your lesson of appointing non-coaches to coaching roles ala Larkham? This where you guys get offtrack, chasing rainbows.

Hmm, seems the Boks are playing a lot of backs out of position too, their captain is playing as badly as Moore is, and they have no game plan that any commentator can distinguish.

Should be a cracker of a match !!

Actually, I think SA will beat the Wallabies. Mainly because the Bok defense is nowhere near as bad as the Wallaby backline defense.

Ian Jones did some analysis of the Wallaby defense for both tests and it was incredible how badly they defended. They weren’t even going for the player they were supposed to, or trusting their inside defenders. Result being yawning gaps out wide. Dagg’s first try was basically a simple catch and pass affair and there were 2 men outside Dagg.

Some of the All Black tries in both tests were ridiculously easy in execution because the Wallaby’s were not positioning properly. They have to hide both Cooper and Foley on defense on set plays which produces real problems when there are quick transitions from defense to attack and vise versa.

Cannot see it getting better with Foley, Kerevi and Haylett-Petty playing out of position and Cooper still being hidden where possible.

When has playing a first-five at inside centre ever really worked consistently…for anyone…ever? Also you have Pocock at No8 and Mumm at blindside…a third of the team is playing out of position !!

Don’t know what your coach is thinking, looks like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Extremely rare for a player to play consistently well out of his natural position and hes asking a third of the team to do it with a defense scheme that is a shambles.

Good luck with that.

Ah..no. If they indeed were going to drop him and were worried about embarrassment, all they needed to do was invent a fake injury.

Well this is a bombshell. Adriaan Strauss to retire from International Rugby at the end of the season. He’s only 30. Players don’t retire at that age unless they are wrecked by injury. Something else must be going on here.

Wow, it took only FIVE DAYS for someone to actually ask the player concerned while Brian O’Driscoll did what Brian O’Driscoll is good at…make an idiot of himself.

I don’t think Poite lost the plot…I don’t think he ever had the plot to begin with. Hes a typical over-officious ref and didn’t really seem to have any real control of situation.

It was pretty obvious that he became impatient with Australia because of the constant niggle and slowing the game… not that the AB’s were any angels either. In fact Hansen and Read need to ensure that their charges don’t take it too far in not taking a backward step, I don’t think the AB’s did a very good job in this respect, they did react far too much.

That being said, the Wallaby’s need a new captain. Moore isn’t performing as a player or a captain, and clearly has not got the respect of match officials for whatever reason.

Even with an All Black eye patch on, you can’t excuse this. At best its dangerous. Stupid, stupid play and he will deservedly get a long break from the game.